Cascades Walk

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Two walking tracks lead through steep, rocky and uneven bushland to the Cascades swimming area, a quieter alternative to Litchfield's larger waterfalls; the lower track closes when water levels rise and reopens once conditions allow, per the official Cascades page.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

2.7 km

Est. time

47 min

Elevation gain

65 m

Route type

Out & back

Steepest stretch: +46m over ~300m (around the 0.0km mark)

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Litchfield National Park, Batchelor, NT. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

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Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Hairy Jewel OrchidDocumented on this trail

Zeuxine oblonga

Vulnerable — WA: Data Deficient, NT: Vulnerable▾

Vulnerable — WA: Data Deficient, NT: Vulnerable

Zeuxine oblonga , commonly known as common jewel orchid is a species of orchid that is endemic to northern Australia. It has up to seven narrow egg-shaped leaves and up to thirty small green and white flowers crowded along a fleshy, hairy flowering stem. It mainly grows in wet forest and rainforest.

How to spot it

Zeuxine oblonga is a terrestrial, tuberous, perennial herb. It has between three and seven dark green, narrow egg-shaped leaves, 40–80 mm (2–3 in) long and 20–30 mm (0.8–1 in) wide which form a loose rosette. Between five and thirty resupinate, dull green and white flowers, about 4 mm (0.2 in) long and 3 mm (0.1 in) wide are crowded on a fleshy, hairy, pinkish flowering stem 100–300 mm (4–10 in) tall. The outside surface of the flowers is hairy. The dorsal sepal is about 4 mm (0.2 in) long, 2 mm

Family Orchidaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Zeuxine oblonga

Spiral Pandanus

Pandanus spiralis

Top End screw palm▾

Top End screw palm

A small tree of northern Australia's savanna woodlands and floodplain margins, growing to about 10 m with strap-like leaves crowded and spiralling toward the branch tips. Its segmented fruit ripens to orange or red and is a traditional food and fibre source for Aboriginal people.

How to spot it

Leaves 1-2 m long and 4-7 cm wide, spirally arranged with sharp spines along the margins and midrib; dead leaves hang in a skirt below the crown, and leaf-base scars spiral visibly down the trunk.

Family Pandanaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Pandanus spiralis

Rob Foster, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Darwin Stringybark

Eucalyptus tetrodonta

Dominant Top End woodland eucalypt▾

Dominant Top End woodland eucalypt

A tall eucalypt, usually 9-25 m, that forms the backbone of open woodland across the Top End alongside Darwin Woollybutt. Its Yolngu name gadayka means 'the word', reflecting its cultural importance.

How to spot it

Rough, stringy or fibrous grey-over-reddish-brown bark on trunk and branches; dull bluish-green lance-shaped leaves in opposite pairs; flower buds in groups of three with whitish-cream flowers; woody cylindrical fruit capsules.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Eucalyptus tetrodonta

G.W. Wilson, CC BY 3.0 AU, via Wikimedia Commons

Sand Palm

Livistona humilis

Fire-tolerant Top End endemic palm▾

Fire-tolerant Top End endemic palm

A small, slender fan palm endemic to the Top End of the Northern Territory, growing to about 7 m with 8-15 fan-shaped fronds. It is fire tolerant and typically grows in open eucalypt woodland that burns regularly.

How to spot it

Slender single trunk 5-8 cm across topped with 8-15 fan-shaped leaves 30-50 cm long on long petioles; small yellow flowers followed by shiny purple-black fruit; found on sandy and lateritic soils in open woodland.

Family Arecaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Livistona humilis

J Brew, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Weeping Paperbark

Melaleuca leucadendra

Riverine paperbark of Top End waterways▾

Riverine paperbark of Top End waterways

A large tree over 20 m tall with thick white papery bark and weeping branches, lining rivers, creeks and floodplain margins across the Top End. Cream to greenish-white flower spikes appear along the branches.

How to spot it

Thick, papery, peeling white-to-cream bark; alternate narrow lance-shaped leaves 75-270 mm long with 5-9 longitudinal veins; cream flower spikes; woody capsule clusters along the stems. Look for it fringing rivers and billabongs.

Family Myrtaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Melaleuca leucadendra

Ethel Aardvark, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Golden Grevillea

Grevillea pteridifolia

Fern-leaved grevillea of Top End woodlands▾

Fern-leaved grevillea of Top End woodlands

A flowering shrub or small tree, 2-14 m tall, with fern-like divided leaves and bright orange-yellow flower clusters that peak from May to September. It is widespread across the monsoonal woodlands of northern Australia.

How to spot it

Pinnatisect, fern-like leaves 100-450 mm long with silky hairs on the underside and rolled-under margins; showy orange-yellow to reddish flower clusters on one-sided racemes; shaggy-haired seed pods.

Family Proteaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Grevillea pteridifolia

Murray Fagg, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Green Plum

Buchanania obovata

Ancient Top End bush-food tree▾

Ancient Top End bush-food tree

A small to medium understorey tree of northern Australian woodlands, best known as a long-standing Aboriginal bush food - archaeological evidence shows its fruit has been eaten for over 53,000 years.

How to spot it

Smooth, thick, leathery broadly oblong leaves 5-25 cm long; small cream flowers about 0.5 cm across; smooth, fleshy, lens-shaped fruit around 1-1.7 cm long that ripens through the dry season.

Family Anacardiaceae · Source: Wikipedia: Buchanania obovata

MargaretRDonald, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Sugar glider

Petaurus breviceps

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic▾

IUCN Least Concern - common but iconic

A small, highly social gliding possum found in coastal forests of eastern and northern Australia. It is omnivorous, nocturnal, and named for both its taste for sugary sap and nectar and its gliding membranes.

How to spot it

Small (24-30cm nose to tail, under 150g), blue-grey fur with a bold black stripe running from nose to mid-back and a cream belly. Travels and dens in family groups in tree hollows, and can be located at night by its bark-like yip or hiss calls and quick short glides between trees, much shorter and faster than the larger gliders.

Family Petauridae · Source: Wikipedia; IUCN Red List

Illustration: Neville Henry Cayley, 1922 (public domain) via Wikimedia Commons